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Israel-Gaza Megathread #1

This is a megathread for any posts on the conflict between (so far, and so far as I know) Hamas and the Israeli government, as well as related geopolitics. Culture War thread rules apply.

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No electricity, water, or fuel for Gaza until hostages freed - Israel

Israel's Energy Minister Israel Katz says the siege of Gaza will not end until Israeli hostages are released.

In a social media post, Israel Katz said no "electrical switch will be turned on, no water hydrant will be opened and no fuel truck will enter" until the "abductees" are free.

[From the BBC news live tracker]

I think this is a smart move. Even if the hostages being released remains very unlikely, it puts more of the moral burden for the siege on the Gazans, who do (broadly) support Hamas.

A mass scale war crime to block food and water to 2.3 million people. Using war crimes to punish a population is an excellent way to get the world to hate you and the victims to never forget.

Gaza used to have their own water, and EU/USA etc donate materials for water pipes and so on, but then Hamas started digging up the pipes to use for rocket making.

I also read something about the underground reservoir being polluted which is why they now rely in water from Israel but not sure.

Egypt can always open their border and help Gaza with those things too!

I also read something about the underground reservoir being polluted which is why they now rely in water from Israel but not sure.

2.3 million people in a tiny strip of desert are going to need to import water. It is the US and Israel that forces Egypt to police imports to Gaza. If it was up to Egypt they would allow more trade.

It is the US and Israel that forces Egypt to police imports to Gaza.

You're going to have to substantiate this because it disagrees with basically everything I can find. Israel helped facilitate Gaza building a desal plant, for instance.

Do you have a citation for that? It wouldn't surprise me, but when I went to look for details it seemed like there were dozens of articles about EU assistance and nothing about Israeli assistance.